


The Start of Something Better

by GiuGiu



Series: changing the world [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Voldemort, Career Advising, Hogwarts Fifth Year, M/M, Sirius Black is a Good Friend, Werewolf Politics, Wolfsbane Potion, sirius and remus aren't together yet but they're still cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26861386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiuGiu/pseuds/GiuGiu
Summary: And, without warning, it was now Sirius who was pinned to the wall. Remus, growling lowly, was only an inch from his face. “You can do anything, Sirius. You can find a career and work hard and be successful. But it’s different for me! I’m registered as a dangerous beast by the Ministry. Anyone who bothers to run my name through the Ministry’s files will see what I am. And even people who don’t will figure it out soon enough. I don’t get a career. I don’t get to be successful, this is what I have and after I graduate… that’s it.”
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: changing the world [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1959592
Comments: 12
Kudos: 66





	The Start of Something Better

Sirius shifted through the large stack of pamphlets McGonagall had passed out earlier. One of the glossy covers had a very smiley witch holding a muggle toaster. Sirius watched as the toaster reared back to bite the witch. The witch, still smiling with a creepy determination, hexed the toaster into submission before it sunk its teeth in. The pamphlet proudly read:  _ Join the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office! _

Wouldn’t his parents love that? Sirius smirked at the pamphlet and sorted it into his “maybe” pile.

Beside him, Peter was doing a similar sort on his own bed. But James was hanging upside down from his bed and playing with that damn snitch while Remus sat on the window ledge and worked on his Arithmancy paper.

Sirius turned back to his stack when he heard an “oomph” and glanced up in time to see James slide down and hit his head as the snitch escaped. It was slower than the standard Quidditch snitches as it was meant to have been retired months ago and not kept as a toy.

Sirius swiped it before it ran into Peter’s head. “Gettin’ slow, Prongs?” He held the ball in his hands, its wings beating hard but not getting anywhere. Remus chuckled without looking up from his homework.

James didn’t deign him with a comment, instead the boy jostled his way onto Sirius’ bed to wrestle him for the snitch. “Oi, get off!” He shoved his friend hard.

“Give it back!” James pinned him by the shoulders.

“You berk, you’re messing up my pamphlets!” James paused for a moment to look down at the chaotic mess of paper their jostling had created. Sirius took advantage of this distraction to shove the snitch down his pants.

James looked back in time to see Sirius’ hand coming out of his trousers. He sat back and gave his friend an unimpressed stare. Sirius grinned up at him.

“You know I’ll go in there, Pads. It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

“It’s nothing we haven’t  _ all _ seen before.” Peter whispered to himself before discarding a pamphlet encouraging him to consider Magizoology studies.

“Yes, but I know you don’t like to feel around down there.” Sirius raised a challenging eyebrow. It was met by an awkward, telling silence.

“... we said we wouldn’t talk about that!” James whispered, face red. Sirius’ view of Remus was blocked by James (who was now cutting off the circulation in his legs) but he could hear him huff in dismay. 

“Yeah and you said you wouldn’t play with the snitch inside anymore because it’s bloody annoying.”

“And it makes me feel ill.” Remus added.

“And it makes Moony ill!” Sirius added with a teasing authority.

James glared at him a bit more before sliding off of his friend. “Fine. Enjoy it buzzing around your nethers.” The boy sloughed off to his own bed and plopped down with a dramatic sigh. 

Sirius shifted as the snitch tickled him and tried to convey a nonchalant composure. He turned back to his stacks and started fixing the skewed piles. He took a look at one that advertised  _ Apparition Examiner Training!  _ before crumpling it up and throwing it in the pile of other careers he would never pursue that were scattered under his bed.

Sirius was considering the pros and cons of being the Welcome Witch at St. Mungo’s (con: the title was pretty sexist and people would look at him funny, pro: ?) when Peter groaned and face-planted into his pamphlets.

“I don’t know what I want to do. These are either too hard or boring!”

“Aw, don’t be that way, Wormy,” James said. “I’m sure there are jobs that only need you to pass one OWL.”

Peter threw his pillow across the room at James with a “git!” but it missed and spilled Remus’ precariously balanced ink pot. The boy sighed, used to his friends’ mess-making. James stuck his tongue out at Peter, who was now apologizing to Remus for staining the boy’s socks. 

“Well, Prongs,” Sirius said, rubbing his crotch discreetly, “care to enlighten us about your plans?” He watched his friend straighten up in an attempt at appearing like he had dignity and wasn’t a total twat. 

“Obviously I’ll be an Auror.” He ran a hand through his hair and smiled winningly. Sirius pulled the Auror pamphlet out of the stack of yet to be considered options.

“Let’s see, you need to pass your OWLs in DADA, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and an elective of your choice. Then you’ll have to get Exceeds Expectations on all your NEWTs. Oh and there’s a three year training program after you graduate.”

James hummed unconcerned but Peter was gaping. “Are you mad? That’s way too much!” He grabbed the Auror pamphlet in his own stack and discarded it. “Five E’s on your NEWTs!” he hissed bitterly. Sirius placed the pamphlet in his “maybe” pile, his parents would be pissed. He wondered if he would get the chance to arrest them someday.

James crossed his arms. “It’s not about taking the easy route, Peter. It’s about making a difference. Changing the world! Helping the innocent!” 

Sirius smirked at James’ righteousness. “Yeah, Pete, what kind of Gryffindor are you? Not willing to study your arse off for the right to die?” he teased. James turned on him, brown eyes challenging.

“Laugh away Padfoot, what do you want to do?” Sirius pursed his lips and turned to his “maybe” pile.

“Well. I could be a Healer.” He eyed the pamphlet’s section on the outreach program for people with “creature-induced injuries”. “Or I could go into Muggle Relations, which hey Pete, only takes a NEWT in Muggle Studies. Or maybe I’ll be the next Knight Bus conductor.” He held up the pamphlet of the purple bus speeding by for James to see. “Or I could work in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department. Or I could be an Auror and give Bellatrix to the dementors...” 

His friends were all staring at him. “What?”

Remus put his quill down. “Do you actually want to do any of those jobs, or are you just trying to piss off your family?”

And yeah, Remus had a point. 

“Moony, my family will be pissed if I do anything besides sitting around making inbred babies and collecting dark artefacts. That leaves me with a very slim range of careers.” The room was quiet for a moment. Maybe it was the inbreeding comment, it did tend to upset anyone outside of the Black family to remember Sirius’ family tree was all kinds of fucked.

“You’d make a good Healer.” Peter finally broke the awkward silence with a smile on his dimpled face. Sirius returned it. Remus was nodding along and James snagged the Healer pamphlet to read in a show of support.

Despite most of the awkward vibe being gone, Peter was still fidgeting and turned to Remus in hope of starting a better conversation. “What are you going to do, Moony?”

Sirius turned to look at the boy. His honey blond hair was getting long enough to fall in loose curls over his eyes. Remus pushed them away, smearing ink over his left eyebrow. It didn’t look as stupid as it should have done. “I haven’t thought about it.”

And again, the room was silent. Because Remus Lupin, prefect and possible contender for Head Boy someday, was notorious for being the Marauder that actually did think things through.

“What!” James finally squawked gracelessly. “But, why not?” Remus’ cheeks grew red and he screwed the lid onto his ink pot. 

“There’s not much point, is there?” He murmured. He stood, and for a second he looked like he was going to say more, but then he put his things down and left the room, murmuring about going to the library.

. . .

. . .

Walking to dinner was embarrassing, but seeing as he was Sirius Black, he chose to see it as hilarious instead.

The snitch had grown comfortable in the dark confines of his pants and had settled down. Only to wake up again as he walked down the stairs to the common room. Where Lily Evans had turned bright red (well, redder than usual) after a quick glance at his groin. She had whirled around, obviously mortified. Sirius looked down to see the snitch tenting his trousers in an attempt to free itself. Great. Marlene had whistled (“Is that a wand in your trousers or are you just happy to see me, Black?”). James, in some kind of misguided attempt at chivalry, had gained the courage to shove his hand into Sirius’ pants (Lily started violently choking) and feel around (it was quite thorough) until he was able to pull the snitch out. By that point, every Gryffindor in the common room had noticed the scene. Great. Sirius had winked at the onlookers and slung an arm around James’ shoulders and kissed his cheek. James finally realized he had made a very bad, very poor, choice and also started coughing along with Lily.

So yeah, hilarious. And the fact that he could now hear this story (with more and more naughty embellishments being added) getting passed around the Great Hall? Hilarious. 

Of course, Sirius had bigger things to worry about, like what Remus said earlier. And that Remus was sitting with Frank and Alice instead of him. 

He sighed and resigned himself to listening to James loudly talking about his love for women in a weak attempt to quiet the very gay rumors going around. Sometimes Remus needed space. Sirius could handle space, space is good for friends. Especially friends that live together. He glanced at Remus’ plate.

“Um, no!” Sirius shouted. Remus had left his plate empty except for a few green beans and a roll. Suddenly everyone at the table was looking at him. Right well, he  _ was _ shouting like a madman. He stood up and leaned diagonally across the table to switch his plate (laden with chicken, mashed potatoes, and brussel sprouts) for Remus’. And yeah, it was so hilarious that even the professors were looking at him funny now. Ha ha. He sat back down and started filling his newly acquired plate with food. James had paused in his monologue on boobs to goggle at him. “What?” Sirius said through a mouthful of chicken, “he needed more protein.”

Despite the initial shock, Remus seemed fine with the switch and started eating his potatoes. 

. . .

. . .

Sometimes Remus gets quiet and moody. It almost always corresponds with the moon. So the fact that the full moon was four days away was enough of a reason for James and Peter to leave Remus alone in his self-imposed solitude. Sirius could tell they knew, as well as he did, that it also had to do with the conversation about careers that they’d been having earlier, but they had enough sense to let it alone.

Sirius did not have that sense. So, in Ancient Runes, the only class they had together that James and Peter weren’t also in, he passed his friend a note.

_ You could be a curse-breaker  _

It had honestly been Sirius’ first thought after reading the pamphlet on curse-breaking. It had a ridiculously large amount of requirements but Remus could easily pass all the tests and finish the training. He had always been an excellent student.

Remus glanced at the note but otherwise ignored it in favor of working on his translations.

_ You could be a healer, we could do the training together  _ Sirius wrote under his first suggestion. He had to admit, the thought of continuing classes with Remus after they graduated made him feel a bit warm.

Remus shoved the note back at him this time. Sirius’ shoulders slumped. Remus was in a bad mood, he should stop and wait for the mood to pass.

_ You would be a great professor  _ he wrote instead. This time Remus stared at it for a moment before writing down a series of runes and passing the note back.

Sirius huffed and started translating the message.

In the choppy and, at times, jarring way Ancient Runes tended to translate, Sirius took the message of  _ to be forbidden, darkest dog _ to mean something like  _ piss off, Padfoot. _

How eloquent. 

. . .

. . .

After class they had to go their separate ways as Remus had Arithmancy where Sirius had Muggle Studies.

James and Peter took one look at him when he entered the classroom and groaned in exasperation.

“You bugged Moony.” Peter announced in dismay.

“I did not.” Sirius lied.

“You did, like we knew you would, and now you’re sulking too!” James cried and shook his head as if Sirius had done something shameful like showing up to class without trousers on and not just tried to cheer up his mate.

“Piss off, I can be worried about him!”

“Sirius,” James’ voice lost its playful tone and lowered in volume, so none of the other students entering the classroom would hear. “You  _ know _ why he’s upset. Don’t make it harder for him.”

Sirius opened his mouth to argue when Professor Womorn called the class to order. Sirius had to admit that Muggle Studies was definitely one of his best classes. He had first taken it because it would infuriate his parents, but he found himself truly enjoying it. 

“Today we will be starting our unit on Muggle architecture. Amazingly, Muggles can build all sorts of things without any magic. Just good sense. Before we go any further, I have some supplies laid out. I would like you all to build a model of a bridge. And I shouldn’t have to remind you, but I shouldn’t see any wands out!”

Their elderly teacher walked around to observe her students trying to build without a drop of magic. Sirius had crowed in triumph when he finally was able to glue his popsicle sticks into something resembling a bridge. Only in time for his elderly professor to saunter over and drop a small stone onto it. The bridge immediately crumbled.

“See?” She smirked. “Not so easy, is it?” Sirius grumbled but appreciated the sentiment. Professor Womorn never let them forget how brilliant Muggle stuff was. The class period went on to study some famous pieces of Muggle architecture and go over the math behind their creation. 

“There shouldn’t be maths in Muggle Studies.” Peter whined. The short boy had only picked Muggle Studies because his other choice was to take Arithmancy with Remus, as he would never take a class without his friends. And Peter had made it known early on that maths, and especially Arithmancy, were not for him.

James, who was offensively good at anything he bothered to care about, ruffled his friend’s fuzzy, white-blond hair in sympathy. “You can copy me on the test, Worms.”

. . .

. . .

Sirius decided he was done dancing around the situation during Potions. Slughorn was droning on about cutting technique, and Sirius was already three steps ahead of where the class was meant to be, because Potions was easy.

At least to him. Remus, on the other hand, tended to struggle. Usually, Sirius used this as a reason to partner up with him. Today wasn’t any different. Except, Remus was still being annoyingly stoic. So, Sirius decided to just fucking go for it and dumped a pound of dragon scale powder into the cauldron instead of the suggested two ounces.

The explosion was awesome.

Even better though, was getting sent to the Hospital Wing with Remus “just to be sure you boys are alright.” Although James and Peter looked put out to not be in on the plan.

They had only made it a corridor away from the Potions room when Sirius pulled Remus into a dark corner (it was the dungeon, every corner was dark) and pinned him against the wall. Admittedly, Sirius knew that Remus could probably crush him if he wanted, but he pretended the power dynamic wasn’t completely imbalanced and scowled at his friend.

“You’re being a moody twat.”

“Shove off, Sirius.” Remus’ eyes, almost golden this close to the full moon, were heatedly glaring at Sirius’ hands gripping his arms. Sirius released him but didn’t step away. He had a ridiculously powerful urge to reach back out and touch him again. Maybe even tug his hair. The git.

“You’re being a prat because Career Advising is coming up.” Sirius blurted inelegantly. But really his “fuck it” plan didn’t go past blowing up shit in Potions.

“I don’t want to talk about this, Sirius.”

“Well, I do.” Remus scoffed and pushed away from the wall to continue down the corridor. Sirius ran to keep up with his friend’s unfairly long legs. “You can do anything you want, Remus, don’t let some people’s bullshit get in your way!”

And, without warning, it was now Sirius who was pinned to the wall. Remus, growling lowly, was only an inch from his face. “ _ You _ can do anything, Sirius.  _ You _ can find a career and work hard and be successful. But it’s different for me! I’m registered as a dangerous beast by the Ministry. Anyone who bothers to run my name through the Ministry’s files will see what I am. And even people who don’t will figure it out soon enough. I don’t get a career. I don’t get to be successful, this is what I have and after I graduate… that’s it.”

The small bubble of space between them was hot and wet from Remus’ tirade and for a moment it distracted Sirius. But then his mind was catching up with what had been said.

And Sirius knew those things.

He did.

But --

It was so unfair. Smart, kind Remus who was better than anyone else at this school was going to be cast aside because of something as silly as being sick. Because that’s all it was really, he was sick. And only once a month. 

Could all of his efforts and knowledge and potential just be a shout into the void? A waste of time and energy?

Remus was still so, so close to him. And Sirius felt himself lean in further, pulled by the magnetism of Remus’ soft, pink lips so close to his own.

And then Remus sniffled and leaned away to wipe his eyes. “Sorry.” he whispered. Sirius let out the breath he was holding and together they walked to their dorm, because the “fuck it” plan was to get them out of class and there was no way they would actually go to the Hospital Wing if they didn’t have to.

. . .

. . .

A day later, Remus was less grouchy after yelling at him. What a relief. Sirius was taking full advantage of his friend’s improved mood and decreased energy (as the full moon was only three days away now) to dramatically fall onto the other boy’s bed. Remus sighed and picked up his spilled ink pot before the stain grew bigger than a sickle. He had fast ink pot reflexes.

“Hey, Mooooony,” Sirius crooned before thrusting a newspaper clipping into his friend’s face. “Read this.”

Remus took it and began reading while Sirius stretched luxuriously on the bed and enjoyed the warmth Remus was exuding. It was damn comfortable. If a little squished.

Back when they were all much smaller they had shared beds all the time. Once they had all managed to pile onto Peter’s bed to cheer the boy up after his owl died. They’d spent hours in a strangely comfortable knot of limbs, eating chocolate frogs and listening as Remus read Muggle books aloud to them. 

But as they grew bigger it had become a little less acceptable and, in most cases, a lot less comfortable.  _ But _ , Sirius thought,  _ when have I ever cared about being acceptable? _

He watched Remus’ face as he read the article. It was short, but the boy was obviously rereading it. In disbelief? In hope? Sirius nawed on his lip anxiously.

Finally, the article was shoved back at him. Hesitantly, Remus murmured “Wolfsbane potion,” trying out the words for the first time.

“It’s supposed to let you be yourself after you transform!” Sirius, finally losing his patience, shouted in glee. “Imagine, Moony, you would never be a danger to biting anyone! Maybe the Ministry would reclassify werewolves!”  _ And you could have a future _ , went unsaid.

Remus couldn’t help the small smile that was pulling at his lips. “I read the article too, Sirius.” He ran an inky hand over his curls. Unlike James, when Remus ruffled his own hair it seemed to magically rearrange itself into something perfect again. If slightly inky. “I… I don’t want to get my hopes up. They’re still in the trial period. It may not work…”

“Or,” Sirius jostled his way into a sitting position so that their shoulders bumped together, side by side. “Maybe it will work. Maybe this is the start to something better.” He watched the boy frown in consideration. 

Sirius didn’t get to hear what Remus would have said because James and Peter burst through the door.

“Dammit Sirius! Lily thinks we’re dating!” James yelled, hands on his hips. 

“She thinks you’re shagging, really.” Peter piped in, the small boy seemed very amused about the situation.

“Maybe it’s because you gave him a handy in the common room.” Remus smirked, goading James further. Sirius laughed and leaned closer into Remus.

James was sputtering now, aghast. “I did not! I was getting the snitch out of his pants! It was indecent!”

“I dunno James, it’s not the first time you’ve been in my pants…” 

James made a sound like a dying animal. Maybe it was his stag side showing through. “This! This is why Lily thinks we’re together! Comments like that!” He started pacing, hands wildly gesturing around him. Sirius and Remus looked on from Remus’ bed while Peter rolled his eyes and pulled out some Bertie Bott’s.

“This is why Lily won’t date me!”

Sirius startled when Remus actually started laughing, his shoulder shuddering against Sirius’. “Yeah, that’s why she won’t date you,” the boy snorted. James stopped pacing and Sirius got off the bed in preparation for what was coming.

Most of the time, James was a very confident person. He had everything one needed for confidence, really. Money, family, friends, good looks, talent, intelligence. But every now and then, his confidence would falter. Sirius had become pretty good at predicting these bouts of ego deficiency. 

So, when James seemed to crumple in on himself, Sirius was ready. “Aw, Prongs.” He whispered as he enveloped his slightly taller friend in a hug. He ran his fingers through his hair soothingly. “You don’t need Lily when you have me.”

“Poofs,” Peter whispered from his spectator position.

“I’m only allowing this because we aren’t in public,” James said haughtily, but he was leaning his head in so Sirius could better pet his messy black locks.

“I wonder what it’s like to have normal roommates…” Remus sassed under his breath.

“Shove it, Moons, you love this dynamic.” Sirius winked. Then, while making eye contact with Remus, he licked James’ face from chin to eyebrow.

“Oi, Padfoot! That’s disgusting! You can’t do that if you aren’t a dog. Ugh.” James pushed him away to frantically wipe his face dry. But Sirius was too busy watching the pink flush color Remus’ cheeks to care.

. . .

. . .

Sirius thought it was unfair of McGonagall to schedule Remus’ Career Advising appointment for the day after the full moon (on a Sunday of all days.) Especially since Madam Pomfrey was still calling it a weird miracle that Remus’ monthly injuries were significantly decreasing and was surprised by the fact that Remus didn’t need a couple of days to recover like he used to. 

Like he used to before his best friends became criminals to keep his wolf form entertained enough to avoid self-harm.

But Madam Pomfrey didn’t know that bit. So to her it was still a weird miracle.

That being said, even if Remus wasn’t breaking his ribs out of frustration every month, he was still staying up all night. So between the exhaustion and the preexisting bitterness towards the topic, Sirius knew his friend would be in a shit mood about the appointment.

It wasn’t a surprise to find him in the kitchen.

The boy was sitting cross-legged on a counter with a house-elf on either side of him (Sirius had to repress a shudder, something about house-elves unsettled him) seemingly having a deep conversation with them over cups of hot chocolate.

“I have to agree with Bupsy, the American stock market is in trouble. If only they would-” Remus cut his sentence short when he noticed Sirius in the doorway, smirking at him.

“What?” He asked, like discussing foreign economics with house-elves was a perfectly normal thing to do.

Suddenly the house-elves were rushing towards him with apologies. “Master Black! Master Black we didn’t see you!”

“Master Black what can Bupsy get for you?” Sirius had to take a deep breath to keep from flinching away (he was not joking about them being unsettling) and just shook his head at them. It seemed to be enough for them to go back to washing the dishes. 

He walked over to Remus’ section of counter and leaned against it, propping himself up on his elbows. It let Remus have the upper ground, literally. The boy was staring into his hot chocolate now that his miniature friends were scared off, and he seemed content to sit in silence.

Sirius hated silence. He was about to cave in and say something when Remus announced: “I’m unemployable.”

They were back to shouting into the void, then.

“There’s no way McGonagall would say that.” Call it a pathetic loyalty to the woman but for all her blunt quips and pessimism Sirius trusted her to be better than the majority of wizarding society.

“No. She didn’t.” Sirius peeked up at his friend. Remus was swirling his hot chocolate a little. His hair casting shadows over his eyes as he stared intensely into the milky dregs in his mug. Perhaps, trying to escape the injustice of his life. Or from this conversation. “She… suggested I look into a field where I can conduct research. Alone. And then publish under a pen name.”

Sirius nodded. Already attempting to create a mental list of things Remus would be good at studying. He could analyze mandrake pollination habits, or the effects of releasing Hungarian Horntails in foreign ecosystems, or he could even track how merpeople pollution affected the growth of plants downstream. 

But the thought of Remus sitting by himself, writing into a notebook in the middle of nowhere everyday was strangely disheartening. So Sirius kept his ideas to himself. Remus didn’t seem to notice his pensive detour.

“... she also suggested I might consider finding a Muggle job.” Sirius perked up at that. 

“Oh well, that could be--”

“Sirius, I grew up with a Muggle mother. Working in the Muggle world wouldn't be some cool new experience for me, like it would for you. It -- it’s… It’s not a solution.” He took a deep, shuddering breath like there was a heavy weight pressing on his shoulders. “It’s a compromise. Or, maybe something worse, I don’t know.”

Sirius watched his friend grow more frustrated.

“It’s not what I dreamed of, you know? I know, it was stupid of me to ever dream about this. But. I guess reality was slow to catch up to me after I got my Hogwarts letter. I thought if Albus Dumbledore would give a werewolf a chance… then why wouldn’t others? God, I’m so dumb.” Sirius jumped at the sharp “clink” of Remus’s mug being placed on the counter as the boy freed his hands to wipe at his eyes shamefully.

Sirius pushed away from the counter to turn and look at Remus, face to face. He pulled the boy’s hands away so gray eyes met watery gold. “You’ll get that someday, Moons. They’re making that new potion. Things are going to change.”

“Sirius, I can’t keep hoping for things that don’t happen.” Sirius shook his head and took advantage of their close proximity to move a shining curl away from Remus’ eye. It was softer than Sirius had dared hope.

“It’ll work. They’ll figure it out. And if they don’t then  _ I will _ .” Remus watched him, and Sirius couldn’t read his face but he wanted, no, needed to convey how true his words were. “I swear. I’ll do whatever has to be done.”

“You’re going to fix a society steeped in racism that has centuries-old laws protecting discrimination towards werewolves… with a potion.”

Sirius paused, his hands finding places on the counter on either side of Remus’ hips. “Well. It’s a start. I can petition the ministry too, if werewolves are in control of themselves during the full moon there’s no reason to classify them as dangerous. And hey, when my dad croaks I’ll have a seat on the Wizengamot.” 

He was expecting Remus to demand something hard from him, like an explanation for why he was dedicating his life to this cause. Which Sirius didn’t really want to examine too closely. But instead he said “Sirius Black, you are an optimist.” A comfortable stillness surrounded them as they stared at each other. Sirius dimly realized that at some point in their conversation, Remus’ legs had unfurled to hang off the counter, framing Sirius’ hips. A hot flush flooded through him and he frantically searched for something to say.

His eyes were drawn to Remus’ empty mug. In it, the powdery remains of his hot chocolate were arranged peculiarly. Now, Sirius never bothered with Divination (he was batty enough without throwing in some superstitious paranoia) but his mother was obsessed with reading tea leaves. So he couldn’t stop himself from blurting “is that the Grim?”

Remus turned to glance at the mug before looking back at Sirius and rolling his eyes in that very classic way no one else could pull off. “Oh no.” He gasped, deadpan. “You mean a big black dog is going to follow me around and make my life harder?”

“Wow. You ars-”

“Gee. Hmm.” Remus continued, cutting Sirius off. “I can’t imagine what that would be like.” Sirius gave into the laughter bubbling in his chest and let his face fall onto Remus’ shoulder. 

. . .

. . .

Sirius’ appointment with McGonagall for Career Advising was scheduled the next day, during lunch. Which was totally rude and definitely an act of passive aggressive revenge. Still, Sirius supposed his lunch appointment was better than James’ 6:00 am appointment.

“Mr. Black,” she greeted him as he walked into her office. “Do come in, I’m sure we’ll have a lot to discuss.”

His transcript was lying on her desk. “Your grades are adequate,” she eyed him sharply as he took his seat. “Although I know that they would improve if you bothered to turn in your homework.”

“I do fine without turning it in.” He shrugged. And it was true, if his professors wanted him to care about homework they should make it a larger percentage of his overall grade. Why spend time on essays when he could be doing other things? Like sneaking to Honeydukes after midnight with James?

“I see. Well, your OWLs will reflect your level of knowledge. Something homework is meant to help you with. Now, do you have an intended career in mind?” She looked at him with searching eyes, he briefly wondered if the faculty had placed any bets on this.

It would probably come as a surprise to most people, but McGonagall was his favorite professor. Sure, she caught him the most and so she gave him the most detentions, but she never looked at him like he was a Black. She always expected him to be a Gryffindor, through and through.

She saw him, not his name.

So when he slapped the Healer pamphlet on her desk, he revelled in her small smile.

He revelled less when she gave him her most disapproving frown when he uttered the words “I’m going to be a werewolf healer.” It was a bit of a shock because he’d assumed the professors knew that he knew about Remus’ “furry little problem.”

Apparently not. Or maybe she was just worried he would go around telling the school about his career choices and bring unwanted attention to his roommate. Yeah right. 

Sirius was very good at secrets. Case in point, the Marauders, minus Remus, had finished their Animagi transformations three months ago and were officially breaking the law with every day they didn’t report it.

And no one knew about that. But it’s not like he can tell McGonagall that to improve his credibility.

So instead he kept his face purposefully blank. “Have you heard of that new experimental potion?” He asked her. It’s like what James said. It’s all about changing the world.

“The Wolfsbane potion? I have, but I also hear the trials are going less than well…” She seemed torn between encouraging him and dissuading him. 

“What better reason for me to get involved then, huh?” In the end, her smile returned, however reserved.

“I suppose so, Mr. Black.”


End file.
